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The ‘any kind of onion’ tarte tatin
Serves 6-8 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 350g onions of your choice (such as red onion, leeks or shallots), cut into 1cm-thick slices
- plain flour, for dusting
- 2 x frozen all-butter puff pastry sheets, thawed
- 110g caster sugar
- 2 tbsp fortified wine (such as sherry)
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 50g butter
- 1/2tsp ground white pepper
- 2 anchovies in oil, finely chopped (optional)
- handful of thyme sprigs and/or fresh bay leaves, plus extra, to serve
- crumbled marinated feta cheese or goat's cheese, to serve
- purple basil leave, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/ 180C F/Gas 6. Place the onions in a heatproof bowl and cover with just-boiled water. Leave for 10 minutes to soften slightly, then drain well and stand on a kitchen paper-lined tray to dry.
On a lightly floured work surface, stack both pastry sheets on top of each other. Using a rolling pin, roll the pastry out to a rough 26cm square. Transfer to a tray and chill until required.
Place the sugar and 60ml water in a 23cm ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Cook, swirling constantly, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and leave to cook without disturbing for 5 minutes, or until turned into a golden caramel. Remove from the heat.
Carefully – the mixture will sizzle – add the wine, vinegar, butter, pepper, anchovies and herbs of choice. Return to the boil and swirl to combine.
Arrange the onions over the hot caramel so that they are tightly packed, then place the pastry over the top, tucking the edges in to give you a rustic edge on the flip-side.
Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and cover with tinfoil to prevent burning. Return to the oven and bake for a further 30 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked through and the caramel is bubbling. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
To serve, place a flat plateover the pan, then carefully invert the tart. Scatter with salt flakes and cracked black pepper, some crumbled feta or goat's cheese and fresh herbs.
Tip: You could make individual little tartlets, too, by using a pastry cutter slightly bigger than the onion or shallot you’ve chosen. Slice the discs and burnish in the pan with the caramel as per the recipe, then pastry on top of each, baking for 20–25 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
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